The present disclosure relates to an environmental control system (“ECS”) pack, and more particularly, to an air supply manifold for an ECS pack.
ECS packs are used in aircraft to condition air for delivery to an aircraft cabin. Conditioned air is air at a temperature, pressure, and humidity desirable for aircraft passenger comfort and safety. At or near ground level, the ambient air temperature and/or humidity is often sufficiently high that the air must be cooled as part of the conditioning process before being delivered to the aircraft cabin. At flight altitude, ambient air is often far cooler than desired, but at such a low pressure that it must be compressed to an acceptable pressure as part of the conditioning process. Compressing ambient air at flight altitude heats the resulting pressured air sufficiently that it must be cooled, even if the ambient air temperature is very low. Thus, under most conditions, heat must be removed from air by the ECS pack before the air is delivered to the aircraft cabin.
An example of an ECS pack is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/136,533 filed Apr. 22, 2016, entitled ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM UTILIZING CABIN AIR TO DRIVE A POWER TURBINE OF AN AIR CYCLE MACHINE AND UTILIZING MULTIPLE MIX POINTS FOR RECIRCULATION AIR IN ACCORDANCE WITH PRESSURE MODE and published as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0231031A1.
In aircraft, ECS packs typically utilize ducts independently spaced from each other to make various pneumatic supply connections throughout the ECS pack. Examples of ducts in ECS packs typically configured independently of each other include the fresh air inlet, bleed air inlet, outflow to the heat exchanger, air cycle machine (“ACM”) compressor inlet, supply to the tip turbine fan, and others.